


she's so gone (you won't find her around)

by Slicki



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: A repost because ao3 messed up the dates, F/F, a fix-it fic to give Kim more depth and less bad vibes, and queer things happen because duh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-10-23 12:00:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10718940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slicki/pseuds/Slicki
Summary: Kim loses herself on a Wednesday.Alternatively: How Kim screws up, loses herself, and slowly finds her way back home.





	she's so gone (you won't find her around)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! First time caller, long time listener here. Basically, I felt that the film didn't really do Kim's story justice, so, this happened.
> 
> Also, shout out to my girlfriend for proofreading this about 50 times and catching my ridiculous typos.
> 
> Enjoy!

Kim loses herself on a Wednesday.

She hates Wednesdays. Wednesdays mean having to sit down and do the homework she let build up over the week. It means being left alone in her giant drafty house as her parents go out for their weekly dinner date.

It also means that Kim is looking for any and all distractions to keep her mind off of the biology homework she should be focusing on.

One minute, she, Harper, and Amanda are talking about their plans for cheer practice that weekend, and the next, Kim is looking at a picture of Amanda that can only be described as very explicit. She clearly wants to make sure that whoever is receiving this photo knows exactly what he could have if he wanted it.

Kim’s first reaction is to throw her phone across the room. Some part of her winces at the thud that comes from her phone hitting the floor, but mostly she’s gob smacked.

It’s one thing to accidentally catch a glimpse of the other girl’s body when they change in the locker room after practice. But seeing Amanda’s body like this is a whole other situation.

It didn’t help that Amanda looked, well, like Amanda.

Wiping her suddenly sweaty palms on her shorts, she stands up and walks over to where her phone lay vibrating on the floor, brought to life by a seemingly endless stream of texts from Harper. Phone in hand, Kim takes a deep breath before unlocking it, willing herself not to throw her phone at another hard surface.

She notices three things. One, this is actually happening and isn’t some boredom-fueled fever dream. Two, Harper has a lot of things to say about this photo. Three, someone renamed the group chat “Girls with Added-Nudes”, and for a moment, just a moment, Kim considers how easy it would be to put her phone through the garbage disposal and forget this ever happened.

She scrolls back to the beginning of the conversation, being sure to not scroll up to the photo again, to see what exactly she has to respond to.

**Apanda:**

ladies?? thoughts?? ;p

**Harpurr:**

O

M

G

girl

gurl

you.look.hot.as.hell.

who the f is this for???

wait. let me guess. that guy from 4th period with the long blonde hair?

**Apanda:**

mmmmaybeeeee…..

;)

how about you kim? good enough to get the guy?

Kim looks up from her phone to gather her thoughts. She’s pretty sure Amanda could get any guy she wanted, especially with a photo like this. It should be easy enough to say as such, but she finds that her fingers are frozen, unable to move and type out a simple response.

Her brain feels jumbled and uneven, like someone reached in and stirred her thoughts around.

She gets a jolt to her system when a loud knock comes from her door.

“Honey,” her mother calls, “Your father and I are leaving now. There’s money on the table for food, and don’t forget to take out the trash before bed! Do you need anything, or are you all set?”

“Um, yeah,” Kim replies, voice a bit shaky, “Yeah, I should be good. Have fun!”

As her mother’s footsteps fade away, she unlocks her phone once more and fires off a response before she can linger too long on what exactly she’s feeling.

**K-9:**

you look amaze! he won’t know what to do with himself

**Apanda:**

thanks girlie!! im gonna send it. wish me luck :p

Kim sighs, releasing a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Hopefully, her life could go back to normal now. That wasn’t exactly the type of distraction she was looking for.

She sits down at her desk, pulls out her biology homework, and tries to pretend that she isn’t still thinking about that photo. Despite her best efforts, Gregor Mendel and his precious peas fail to stop her mind from wandering back to it.

“Jesus Kim. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before. Get it together, please.” She mutters to herself as the image interrupts her third attempt at a punnet square. “Homozygous individuals with freckles have literally nothing to do Amanda whoring herself out for dates.”

She doesn’t manage to get much done that night, and by the time she finally falls into bed, she’s brimming with frustration.

That night, she dreams of Amanda in a monk’s frock, yelling at her about how her freckles are a result of dominant genes. In the background, Harper performs a cheer routine, holding up a sign that says “Angel Grove is the powerhouse of the allele” every time Amanda pauses her rant.

The sound of her alarm in the morning is a welcome relief.

//

She hadn’t meant to throw a grenade into the middle of her social life, but, looking back, she can’t say she didn’t deserve the fallout.

It’s been a week since Amanda sent her photo, and Kim still feels a bit weird about the whole thing. Being around Amanda induces a weird sort of anxiety, where she wants to both run away and just throw up in equal measure. The nice little knot that has been residing in her stomach for seven days now is a testament to her unease.

She can’t stop thinking about it. It’s become A Thing. And she needs to release some of whatever is building up before it becomes A Mess.

That’s where one Ty Daniels comes in.

It’s not that Kim is in love with him or anything, but it’s pretty common knowledge among her friend group that she is planning to eventually ask him out. Common enough knowledge that she shouldn’t walk out of her last class of the day and see Amanda leaning against Ty’s locker, batting her eyelashes at him and playing with the collar of his shirt.

It’s when Ty leans down to whisper in Amanda’s ear that Kim snaps. There is no part of her that wants to see Ty and Amanda flirting, and a large part of her brain is yelling about how Amanda is going to steal Ty away with her photos.

Somewhere, far in the back of her mind, part of her wonders if her anger comes from something other than jealousy. If she instead wants to punish Amanda for how she’s felt during the last week, but Kim doesn’t have time to sit down and analyze her feelings. She’s angry now, and she wants to lash out.

It’s a simple matter of scrolling up through her chat with Harper and Amanda, by now restored to its former name of “Grrls with Attitude”, saving the photo, going to her chat with Ty, typing in a few words, and hitting send. It’s amazing that something so life altering can take only 20 seconds.

She expects to feel better after sending the text, and, for just a moment, the knot loosens.

When she turns to the sound of Ty and Amanda storming towards her, fists clenched and eyes filled with tears respectively, the knot tightens forcefully.

Then Ty calls her the “meanest girl ever”. The knot explodes.

//

Detention as punishment for what she did feels a bit off. It’s not that the punishment feels unwarranted. In fact, one could easily argue that she deserves something much more severe.

It feels too simple. She just has to sit in a room full of fellow screw-ups every Saturday and wait for the time to tick by.

Though, when she passes Jason Scott, a striking reminder of her own recent fall from grace, in the hallway, the sudden nausea in her stomach feels punishment enough.

At home, she can read a book, or listen to music, or even just walk around outside in an attempt to forget what she did. But here, surrounded by people she doesn’t know, in a place she can’t escape, she can do nothing but stew in her actions.

Scanning the room, she doesn’t find that much of interest. Bullies in that corner. Burnouts in this one.

She eventually finds something mildly interesting when her eyes fall upon a boy in blue who seems to be intent on organizing his pencils a certain way. He doesn’t hold her interest for long, but she’ll take what she can get at this point.

The buzz of her phone signaling a message from Amanda is almost a welcome relief. As she slips past the poor sap tasked with running detention on her way to the bathroom, she wonders if maybe this is the day she can begin getting her life back.

//

Anyone who encourages people to have hope is a goddamn idiot.

At least, that’s what Kim tells herself as she stares at the pair of scissors Amanda had stabbed into the wall before walking away, taking with her any hope Kim had of returning to her former state of being.

She misses cheer practice, the thrill of nailing a new routine or catching a girl who faltered. She misses having friends and busy evenings. She misses being someone.  

She misses not hating herself.   

“It’s not fair,” she mutters, ripping the scissors out of the wall, “One mistake. One mistake and they won’t even give me a chance to fix it.”

She runs her fingers through her hair, remembering all the times her, Harper, and Amanda had sat in a circle and given each other elaborate braids. She remembers the satisfaction of completing her cheer look with the perfect ponytail.

She remembers the pain that came from Amanda yanking on her hair to drag her to the ground after she sent Ty the photo.

She remembers, and she cuts.

Afterwards she feels better. Different. As her hair falls to the floor, Kim feels like this is the beginning of something new, something fresh.

Walking out of the bathroom with her head held high, she feels as if she has left her sins on the floor, tangled up in her fallen locks.

//

The thing with the quarry started a few years ago.

She’s come to think of it as her spot. It’s born witness to countless tears after bad grades, bad breakups, and everything in between.

Crying doesn’t feel so out of place when you’re surrounded by water.

Coming here after her spontaneous haircut feels right to Kim. Diving into the water below feels like a second baptism, a new lease on life.

Of course, Jason just has to come along and make that all the more complicated.

//

She can’t fucking believe that this is her life right now. Running from mine security after Billy Cranston blows up a goddamn mountain is really not how she pictured spending her evening.

Sure, she got some cool pink token from it, but that’s really not going to be a good enough consolation prize if she ends up in jail as a result.

So she runs. She runs as fast as she can, and somehow, she ends up side by side with “Crazy Girl”. Deedee, Kim recalls. She’s pretty sure they have English together or something.

She grabs Deedee’s wrist as they start running, not quite wanting to face this alone.

Jumping into the van feels like the craziest thing she’s ever done. This is something done in movies, not in Angel Grove and certainly not by Kimberly Hart.

But she does it. And the last things she remembers are yelling at Billy and feeling the other girl’s shoulder as it pushes into hers.

//

She’s a superhero.

They’re all superheroes, according to Billy.

Her, Zack, Jason, Billy, and Trini.

Destined to save the world.

Or die, if they can’t figure out how to morph before Rita Repulsa 24 karat KO’s the entire world.

They’ve been at this now for six days. Six days of kicking, punching, dodging, and groaning, and they’re no closer to morphing than they were at the beginning.

What she actually has to show for it, what she’s truly gained from this experience, is friends. Kind of.

They’re not the best of friends, but they smile at each other in the hallway and sit together at lunch. They also train together, of course, but the person she spends the most one-on-one time with is Trini.

 They’ve worked together on a few in-class biology assignments since finding out about the whole Ranger thing. It didn’t feel quite right pairing up with someone who didn’t know they were superheroes powered by ancient alien technology.

Trini may not be the warmest or most open person Kim’s ever met, but she knows her way around a cell.

So well in fact, that Kim finds herself paying less attention to their teacher during lecture and more attention to Trini when they break out into group work. Something about her voice, talking at a steady pace about how to tell the difference between smooth and striated muscle tissue, is soothing to her.

A bit too much sometimes.

“Hey, earth to Kimmy! You wanna get to work or do you need to keep staring into space?”

The words come from Trini’s lips. Lips that Kim now realizes she has been staring at for the past 30 seconds.

“Sorry,” Kim exclaims, voice just a bit too loud “I was just contemplating, uh, muscle fibers?”

“Muscle fibers? So you have been listening. Take questions 1-10, and I’ll do 11-20. Cool?” Trini raises her eyebrows, waiting for a response.

Kim smiles and nods, happy to look at something that can’t catch her staring. As she looks down at the problems in front of her, she realizes that, despite zoning out for most of the class, she knows what she’s doing. Apparently staring at Trini is more productive than she thought.

//

Kim pops the question a few minutes before class ends.

She’s not completely sure what compels her to ask. She only knows that she’d like to have Trini’s company a bit longer.

“Hey Trini?”

“Hm?” Trini doesn’t look up, trying to make the most of the time they have left in class.

 _Nerd._  Kim thinks fondly, before opening her mouth to speak.

“I was wondering, “ something in Kim’s voice must stand out, because Trini stops writing and looks up at her through dark lashes. “Would you want to get coffee with me later? We’ve spent a lot of time together at school or in training, but never just as two normal girls who happen to want a donut.”

“Two normal girls, huh?” Trini is smiling at her now, wide and hopeful, and Kim can’t help but smile back as she opens her mouth to respond.

“Two normal girls.”

//

Conversation flows easily, never dipping into serious topics, and offers both girls a rare chance to relax.

The mood shifts to something a bit more playful when Trini stabs her fork through the last piece of the donut they were sharing, a look of challenge on her face. Kim doesn’t fully understand what’s going on until she attempts to use her fork to spear it and Trini moves her fork away.

Trini’s too fast for her at first, but Kim isn’t going down without a fight.

The thrill Kim feels as they play keep away sends her heart racing, and it doesn’t help that Trini is beaming at her once they stop, face flush with laughter.

The feeling she gets when she smiles back at Trini unsettles her. The fluttering in her chest (which has to be from the excitement of having these powers) comes as a surprise.

Kim blames what she does next on the adrenaline and caffeine pumping through her veins.

She wraps her hand around Trini’s wrist, gently stopping the other girl from eating her hard won prize.

“Hey! No rematches. I won this fair and square!” Trini pulls against her hand, but makes no real effort to escape, essentially letting Kim just hold onto her wrist.

 “Well,” she says, leaning closer to Trini while maintaining eye contact, “there’s no reason we can’t share.”

The look on Trini’s face when she bites off half of the last piece, winking as she sits back, makes the increased fluttering in her chest worth it.

//

It takes eight days for Kim to realize that she may or may not be have a crush on Trini.

The first clue was how she felt during their totally platonic coffee date two days ago. She’s been to coffee shops with tons of people, but none of them really made her feel the way Trini did.

The second clue is a bit more obvious and a lot more painful.

Trini shows up that day wearing a tight yellow tank top and spandex shorts that leave little to the imagination. A very respectable workout outfit, Kim figures, even if it does make her body feel a bit warm.

The problem comes when Trini strips off her yellow tank top to reveal a bright pink sports bra underneath. It wasn’t a champagne, coral, or peach bra. It was _pink._

_Pink ranger pink._

Kim, in the middle of sparring with Zack, stops dead in her tracks at the sight of her color on Trini’s skin. The sight is jarring, to be sure, and it stirs something deep within Kim’s gut. Something that she has been trying to avoid thinking about.

Zack, undeterred, finishes the punch he had begun to throw. Kim’s brain may be frozen, but time is not, and as a result, Zack’s strike sends her flying backwards into a wall.

For a moment, the world around her becomes a giant blur, and it’s hard to focus on anything other than the throbbing pain emanating from her face. Shouting brings her back to the present, and when she refocuses her eyes, she finds herself staring into Trini’s face.

“Hey,” Trini says softly, reaching up to lightly run her thumb over the spot on Kim’s face where she had hit the wall the hardest “Are you okay? You normally don’t get hit by punches that telegraphed.”

“Woah!”  Zack interjects, “My punch wasn’t that obvious.”

Trini says nothing, only turning to Zack long enough to glare at him.

“Right,” Zack says, looking sheepishly at Trini before squatting down to be at Kim’s eye level, “Super sorry about that. I expected you to dodge no problem. Something got you off your groove, K?”

She answers Zack, but her eyes never stray from Trini’s face. “I think I just need a nap. It’s been a long week.”

This answer apparently does little to soothe Trini, whose brows are furrowed in concern as she worries her bottom lip between her teeth.

And all Kim can think about is how badly she wants to reach out and smooth her thumb over that furrow.

How badly she wants to be the one biting Trini’s bottom lip.

She’s screwed.

//

It takes eleven days of mighty morphin’ failure and one campfire sharing session for Kim to suspect that it may be her fault.

Zordon talks about unity and being one with the grid, but every time they try to morph, all Kim can think about is how much of a monster she is.

Apparently cutting your hair and becoming a superhero doesn’t absolve you of your crimes.

There are long stretches of time where she’s okay. Where she can forget how lost she feels or how weird her closet looks without the bright splash of Angel Grove blue in it.

She can forget how broken Amanda’s father looked when he saw the photo of his daughter that she had sent out into the world.

She can forget overhearing Amanda sob in the girl’s bathroom, telling Harper how violated she felt by Kim’s actions.

But she can’t forget forever.

She finds peace in Billy’s faith, Jason’s speeches, Zack’s jokes, and Trini’s eyes.

Unfortunately, they aren’t always with her.

Ironically, the moment in which she is supposed to be focusing on them the most is the one moment she can’t forget what she did.

How can she be part of something so pure, so ancient, when she betrayed someone so deeply? The coin may have chosen her for a reason, but Kim isn’t quite sure what that reason is.

She knows what she did is wrong. God, does she know.

She knows that Amanda has license to basically be mad at her for the rest of her life (though, a decrease in confrontations would be appreciated), and she knows that getting forgiveness for what she did is a pipe dream.

She also knows that what she did to Amanda will be something she regrets for the rest of her life. Never to be forgotten, and never to be repeated.

The problem is this: she’s afraid.

She’s afraid of telling the rest of the Rangers what she did, afraid of them rejecting her after they find out.

Kim has no idea what she’d do if they abandoned her too. But she’s starting to get the feeling she may just have to take that chance. Holding herself back isn’t going to get them to morph. And it certainly isn’t going to let her heal.

Telling them is the only way forward.

When she considers how best to tell them, she goes between countless options, none all that satisfying. But one thing becomes clear: she doesn’t want to tell them all at once.

She decides that Jason, who knows better than the rest how easy it is to screw everything up, is first on her list.

//

Her talk with Jason ends up not being the worst conversation of her life.

Despite her fears, he doesn’t immediately boot her from the team or rain down fire and brimstone.

He offers her something she refused to offer herself: forgiveness.

She deletes the photo as soon as she leaves his house. She doesn’t know why she kept it around after all of the trouble it led to, but she’s happy to have it gone from her life.

She feels lighter, not quite free, but better than she did before speaking with Jason.

Talking about it doesn’t erase the past, but it gives Kim a sense of security to know that she’ll have at least one person in her corner when all is said and done.

That sense of security shatters the moment her phone vibrates with an uncharacteristically imperfect text from Trini.

**Trini the Yellow:**

jst got attacked by rita. meet me at ftbl field. urgent.

Kim doesn’t think she’s ever run this fast in her life.

//

Billy’s dead.

Billy’s dead because they couldn’t figure out how to fucking morph.

Carrying his lifeless body back to the ship feels like it takes both no time at all and decades. It’s only her faith in Billy’s revival that keep her moving. Billy never gave up on them, not once, and she’s certainly not going to give up on him now.

//

She sees the chunk of concrete as it flies towards Amanda’s car, and she only has a second to decide what she’s going to do.

There is a part of her that considers letting it just fall on the car. She can tell that it won’t directly crush anyone, so at most it would result in some insurance claims.

She knows that Amanda has caused her a lot of grief these past few weeks, but she also knows that it’s only because she struck first.

She knows she can stop it. It’ll take just a simple shot from her zord to clear the falling debris.

Letting the debris crush Amanda’s car would satisfy part of her. The part that she has been trying so hard to stay away from. The part that got her into this mess in the first place.

She can picture it now, the look of horror and absolute shock on Amanda’s face that would come from having her car crushed out of nowhere.

She wonders if those emotions would play out on Amanda’s face the same way they did her father’s in the principal’s office.

She doesn’t let the concrete hit the car.

//

The feeling that comes from defeating Rita is intoxicating. She feels powerful, like she can accomplish anything. Like _they_ can accomplish anything.

None of it feels completely real. Not until they meet up again, a day later, unable to contain their smiles when they see each other again.

The walls of the mine echo with Billy’s shouts of glee and Zack’s whoops of triumph. Jason can’t stop smiling at them, looking every inch the proud leader.

Trini observes it all with a small smile, content to just exist in the moment.

Kim watches them all with a mix of emotions welling up.

She sits with her feet dangling over the edge of the ravine and takes it all in.

So much has happened in the past month, and sometimes she can hardly believe it.

Kim has been the villain and hero both, and now she’s trying to find a way to balance it all.

The guilt of what she did to Amanda still weighs on her, of course. That doesn’t go away just because you save the city with a giant dancing robot made of dinosaurs. But, slowly and surely, she thinks she’s learning to forgive herself.

Also, they saved the fucking world yesterday. Nothing can tarnish that.

She looks down at the water for a moment, and is suddenly overcome with the urge to jump in. The desire to do something wild swells up within her. She feels so young and ever so alive, why not take advantage of that?

A shout from Billy causes her to look up just in time to see all three boys leap off the other side of the ravine, apparently overcome with the same urge as her. They land with a loud splash, and Kim can hear them beginning to have a water fight below.

Their laughter makes happiness bloom in her chest, and she begins to stand, intending to join them.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” calls Trini from behind her, “Don’t you only go down there after pushing someone in?”

Kim smiles as she turns to face Trini, taking a second to remind herself to play it cool. _Having a crush on Trini shouldn’t mean that you blush every time she talks to you. You got this, Hart._

However, as soon as she fully looks at Trini, she realizes that it may be easier said than done.

Trini is beautiful.

Wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and her infamous yellow jacket, Trini looks every bit the picture of your average teenager.

But the thudding of Kim’s heart indicates that, to Kim, there’s nothing average about Trini.

Trini’s smirking at her now, and all she wants to do is close the distance between them and show Trini how she feels. She can feel the adrenaline thrumming through her veins, and it urges her on.

Trini speaks again, snapping her out of her stupor, “Or wait, do you have to steal my water first? I’m a bit fuzzy on the specifics.”

Kim laughs, “You’re never going to let that go, are you?”

Since having her revelation about her feelings towards Trini, Kim has struggled a bit with keeping a level head around her.

Trini takes a step towards her with a smirk and a shrug, “Can you really blame me? That betrayal stung deep.”

The problem isn’t that Trini is a girl (that was an issue for all of 2 hours before Kim realized that if she could accept that she was a superhero who turned hot pink, she could accept that she kinda sorta maybe liked girls, too).

The problem is that Trini flusters Kim, makes her lose her cool and, unfortunately, her ability to flirt.

“Yeah,” Kim laughs a bit nervously, “I’m sure it really keeps you up at night.”

Kim’s never had trouble flirting. Her rise to the top of the social pyramid at Angel Grove was accelerated by the fact that boys were tripping over themselves for even a chance to ask her out. All it took was a smile and a coy glance for someone to suddenly find themselves incredibly interested in Kimberly Hart.

Trini nods very solemnly as she takes another step towards Kim, “It haunts even my waking hours.”

There are three big reasons she hasn’t used Kimberly Hart’s Tried and True Method of Flirting™. One, she doesn’t think Trini will be as susceptible to it as the guys at school.  Two, half the time she’s around Trini, she can barely focus enough to say all of the words in a sentence. Three, just because Trini likes girls doesn’t mean she likes Kim.

Kim laughs once more, now acutely aware of the shrinking distance between them, “Oh come on you big baby. It was just water.”

After the incident two days ago, in which Kim literally walked into a wall because she was distracted by the way Trini’s hips moved during a dance-off with Zack, Kim has been trying to regain some sense of control.

Kim takes a step towards Trini now, “Or are you telling me that the Yellow Ranger is a chicken?”

Part of that effort was getting herself back in the mindset she used to have when flirting with a crush.

Trini’s eyes flash with a challenge as she takes a final step towards Kim, bringing them chest to chest, “Oh, you really stepped in it now, Princess.”

Flirt like you know they already like you.

There are limits of course: don’t be creepy, and back off if there is any sign of discomfort. But approaching her crushes with confidence has rewarded Kim many a time.

Hopefully, that trend continues with Trini.

“Have I now?” Kim replies, lowering her voice a bit, “and what exactly are you going to do about it?”

Unbidden, her eyes dart down to Trini’s lips, and Kim can see the moment the other girl notices. Trini visibly swallows as she tries to come up with a reply. And it’s in that moment that Kim learns just how beautiful a blushing Trini is.

“How about this,” she reaches out and fingers the collar of Trini’s jacket, making note of the way Trini’s breath catches, “I’ll pay you back the water you gave me, with interest, and then we’ll be square. Deal?”

As she finishes her sentence, she steps back to create enough room for her to thrust her hand forward, while at the same time removing her other hand from Trini’s collar.

Trini narrows her eyes at the proffered hand, “I feel like I’m going to regret this, but yeah, sure.”

As Trini brings her hand up to meet Kim’s, she considers for a second just pulling Trini in close and kissing her. But she knows that to kiss Trini now, before they actually have a chance to talk about anything, would probably be ill-advised.

When their hands do meet, Kim takes a second to appreciate the way Trini’s hand fits so nicely into hers. “Once again, so sorry!”

Trini barely gets out a “Wait, what?” before Kim pulls Trini into herself and leaps backwards towards the ravine, taking a second to note how Trini’s hands immediately fly to her hips.

“Kim! I swear to god!” Trini shouts trying to look angry, but Kim can see in in the crinkle of her eyes and the smile fighting to break its way out that Trini is enjoying this as much as she is.

Kim just laughs, reveling in the rush of air around her and the way Trini fits into her arms. In the future, she’ll have to be sure to give Trini hugs more often.

Her laughter cuts off once they hit the water, but it quickly returns when she resurfaces and sees Trini struggling to get her wet hair out of her face.

“I don’t know why the hell I keep falling for that,” Trini mutters.

Kim flicks a few drops of water at her, delighting in the look of annoyance Trini sends her way. “It’s just because pretty girls make you weak.”

“Really now?” Trini raises her eyebrows at Kim, and a familiar look of challenge settles on her face.

“Let’s see how pretty you look after being dog-piled.”

Kim’s mouth drops open. _She wouldn’t._

“Now T, just be rational. There’s no rea-“

“DOG PILE ON PINK!”

Kim’s screams of mock-fury quickly turn to laughter as her friends all pile onto her, creating a dazzling mix of colors on the surface of the water.

They spend the next few hours splashing and playing, just enjoying the freedom and lightness they all feel.

By the end of the day, after they’ve all said their goodbyes and have started heading home, Kim has made a decision.

She needs to talk to Trini.

She needs to tell her everything.

//

It turns out spilling your heart to your crush is a lot harder than one would think.

It’s been two weeks since Kim decided that she was going to talk with Trini, and since then she’s made no progress towards that goal.

It’s not to say those two weeks were wasted. It’s just that she’s basically done everything but sit down and talk with Trini. She’s even told Zack and Billy about what she did to Amanda, and both conversations went pretty well, as different as they were.

//

She tells Zack at 3am, staring into the endless night sky all the while.

Unable to sleep, she had wandered up to the mines with the intent to stargaze. She lays down on an abandoned train car for all of two minutes before her power token vibrates slightly, indicating that a Ranger is nearby.

“What brings you to this side of the tracks at such an hour?”

Kim sits up and scoots over, making room next to her in a clear invitation for Zack to sit down.

“I couldn’t sleep. Didn’t want to, really.” Her voice catches at the end of her sentence, and out of the corner of her eye, she sees Zack looking at her with concern.

“Is…is everything okay? You can talk to me, you know.”

She can feel the words trying to push their way past her closed lips, but she can’t move past the fear keeping her mouth closed.

After a minute of silence, Zack turns back to look at the sky and speaks, “If you don’t want to talk, that’s cool, too. But I’m here if you need me, K. Don’t be a stranger, Ranger.”

She cracks a smile at that, and a laugh slips past her lips.

“Can you just sit with me for a bit? I don’t feel like being alone.”

Staring at the vast expanse of sky above her, she almost feels like she could get lost in it, and tonight she wants to stay grounded.

Zack says nothing, just smiles at her and bumps his shoulder into hers.

Fifteen minutes later, she finds her courage and speaks the words out into the night. She talks about what led her to do it and the immediate regret. She talks about the self-loathing that wells up in her chest every time she catches one of her parents looking at her with quiet disappointment.

She talks about her quest to redemption. How every day is an effort to become better than the person she was the day before and to forgive the person she was. How some days she backslides and feels like she’ll never get over it.

Zack listens to Kim talk for twenty minutes, and, at the end of her speech, when the energy that had carried her through finally runs out, he simply looks at her.

After a moment, Zack raises his eyes to the sky.

“Look, you did something really shitty, but you also seem like you’re trying really hard to move past that. And you’re owning it. That takes courage, Kim.” Zack turns back to her at this point, and the accepting smile on his face nearly takes Kim’s breath away.

“I’m ride or die for the Power Rangers, and that includes you.” He extends a fist out to her, and smiles once more.

Still a bit shell-shocked at Zack’s simple acceptance of everything she just told him (Sure, Jason accepted it too, but that was a 5 minute talk, not a 20 minute rant), Kim slowly reaches out and taps his fist with her own.

“Thanks for telling me. Now, wanna hear the story about the time I broke my arm trying to climb one of these things?” He raps his knuckles against the train car they’re sitting on, “It’s a lot more amusing that it sounds.”

Her and Zack spend the rest of the night telling stories from their pasts, and, by the time the sun rises in the morning, Kim feels at home in her skin for the first time in weeks.

//

Her conversation with Billy is a lot shorter but just as satisfying.

She approaches Billy a day after she tells Zack, emboldened by his response. She finds him under the bleachers after school. A few days after they defeated Rita, Billy let all of them know about his “Calm Zone”, where he would sometimes retreat during his free period if things became a bit much for him at school.

She clears her throat as she approaches, not wanting to startle him. Billy smiles at her when he looks up from the book he was reading. As he puts it down to stand up, Kim catches a glimpse of the title, _Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning_ , and can’t find it in herself to be surprised.

“Hey, Kim,” Billy greets her, “What’s going on? You said you needed to tell me something important in your text. I tried to think of what it could be, but nothing really came to mind.”

“Billy, this isn’t easy for me to say, but,” Kim pauses to take a deep breath, “I need to tell you about the reason I ended up in detention.”

“Oh!” Billy exclaims before furrowing his brow. He looks lost in thought for a moment before a look of clarity appears on his face.

“Is this about what you did to Amanda? I overheard her talking about it one day when I was sitting here. I guess cheer practice had just ended or something. She said you took a photo she trusted you with and shared it with a guy for no good reason. Is that true?”

Kim’s mouth drops open. Out of all the things she imagined happening during one of her confessions, she never expected any of the Rangers to already know what she did. Her heart speeds up. This wasn’t something she planned for.

In a moment of panic, her mouth opens and the events come pouring out of her mouth. She tries to keep everything as succinct as possible, not wanting to give Billy issue with a 20 minute long emotional rollercoaster.

She finishes and just stares at him, waiting for whatever response will come.

He walks over to her after a moment and pulls his power token out of his pocket.

“See this?” He asks, holding it up between them. “These chose each of us for a reason, and I don’t believe that it would choose someone inherently evil. You’re a good person, Kimberly. You just made a mistake along the way. I believe in the goodness of the Power Rangers, but, more importantly, I believe in you.”

A moment passes.

“Billy, is it okay if I hug you?”

“Sure,” he nods. “Just not too long, okay?”

When she wraps Billy in a brief-but-firm hug, she swears she can feel the faith emanating from him.

More weight lifts from her chest.

//

Watching a sweaty Trini spar with Billy really isn’t helping her focus on her goal of confessing her sins.

They’ve been training for an hour now, and Kim has grown increasingly nervous as time passes. She promised herself that today was the day, and it shows in her training. She gets hit about twice as much as she normally does, and it gets so bad that Jason pulls her aside to talk to her.

“Are you okay? You haven’t been focusing much today. Listen, I know it’s been about two weeks since we fought Rita, so it’s understandable if you’re still dealing with that.”

Initially, Kim is tempted to just tell Jason to mind his own business, but, after seeing the genuine concern on his face, she relents.

“Jason, I’m fine. Promise. I’m just nervous because,” her voice drops to a whisper “I’m planning to talk to Trini about the Amanda thing after practice today. I’m just not sure how she’ll react.”

Jason nods at her knowingly and speaks, “I get that. I’m sure it’ll be okay, though. Do you want me to wrap up a bit early so that you can just get to talking? We’ve been going pretty hard these last few days. Ending an hour early won’t kill us.”

Kim glances over at Trini and nods. “Would you? I’d appreciate it. I need to do this today.”

He nods at her once more before putting his fingers to his lips and letting out a whistle. “That’s enough for now everyone! We’ll end early today. Awesome job everyone!”

As Trini and Billy wind down their match, Kim takes a moment to just observe the other girl in action. She’s always admired Trini’s fighting style. Something about the brash and fearless way the other girl throws herself into a fight speaks to her. It’s such a departure from her own evasive style that she can’t help but marvel at it sometimes.

It exemplifies some of what she finds so attractive about Trini: when she believes in something, she fights with all of her heart.

It also helps that sparring tends to result in a sweat-covered and shirtless Trini.

A Trini that is done sparring and currently making moves to head home. Kim knows she has to speak but hesitates.

She wants so badly to tell her. Trini is the last Ranger that needs to know about what Kim did, and she’s also the one whose opinion Kim values the most.

If Trini were to react poorly, Kim isn’t quite sure how she would handle it.

She hasn’t had a lack of opportunities. She sees Trini every day in class, every day after class for training, and several other times a week when they go to the café to get coffee together. She just hasn’t been able to get the words out, too afraid of ruining whatever it is that’s developing between them.

And the more time she spends with Trini, the more she begins to believe that she feels it too.

As Trini walks past her to gather her things, Kim suddenly reaches out to grab her wrist, and Trini turns to her with a raised eyebrow.

“Do you need something?” Trini asks, “If you ask me for a sip of my water, I can’t promise I won’t throw it at you.”

Despite the feeling of nausea pooling in her stomach, Kim laughs and manages to stay calm as she responds, “I solemnly swear I am not going to ask for your water. I just wanted to ask if you would stay after with me for a bit. There’s a move I want to work on.”

“Yeah, totally,” Trini answers with a smile on her face, “let me just say goodbye to the guys.”

A minute later, Trini turns to her with an expectantly raised eyebrow, “So, what move did you want to work on? The arm bar? Or the hold break?”

“Uh, actually. I don’t really want to work on anything. That was just to get the guys out of here. I want to talk to you,” Kim is pleased with how little her voice wavers, and she reminds herself that, based on her track record so far, this conversation will probably go just fine.

“Oh,” Trini questions, “What did you have in mind then?”

“I wanted to talk about something that I’ve been trying to tell you for a while. I haven’t told you yet, because, well, I’m afraid of you rejecting me,” Kim lets out a self-deprecating laugh and looks down at her feet, missing the look of hopeful surprise that flashes across Trini’s face.

“Kim,” Trini takes another step in her direction, “that’s not something you have to worry about. If I can put up with you refusing to ever let me have the last piece of donut, I can handle whatever you want to tell me.”

“Right,” Kim takes a deep breath and prepares herself for the plunge.

“It started on a Wednesday…”

//

After Kim finishes explaining everything, she finally looks up from her shoes and at Trini, who is looking at her with what appears to be a quizzical gaze, and Kim is thankful that she sees nothing worse.

They stare at each other for a handful of seconds, Kim willing Trini to say something while at the same time fearing what that something may be.

“So you betrayed Amanda’s trust, and that’s why she’s been a mega-bitch to you this year? And that’s why you didn’t want to have sharing time at the campfire? And also why you won’t let me punt Amanda and her cronies into the Andromeda galaxy.”

Kim scuffs her shoe at the ground before answering. “I doubt you could actually kick her into another galaxy. We’re not that strong.”

“Is that a challenge? You know I’m always down for a good challenge.”

They smile at each other, and for a second, the nervousness Kim has been feeling disappears, only to be replaced by the ever so familiar fluttering feeling in her chest. After a moment, Trini’s smile disappears, and she regards Kim with a raise eyebrow. “Well?”

Trini’s question reminds Kim of why she’s here having this conversation, and her mood immediately shifts.

“Simply put, yes. I… I wasn’t proud of what I did, and I never will be, obviously. I became the type of person I always hated, and I’ve been trying to work through that on my own. But, it felt wrong keeping this from all of you. I want you to know who I am, even if that is a not so great person.”

Much to Kim’s dismay, tears begin to well in her eyes and her voice begins to waver as she continues.

“I understand if that makes me the type of person you’d rather not hang out with or something. Or even if you wanted to punt me into another galaxy. I’d understand that too. Please, just –“

Whatever words Kim was going to say next are knocked out of her throat by the force of Trini slamming into her. For a moment, just a moment, Kim thinks that Trini is trying to tackle her to the ground in some sort of “Vengeance for Amanda” scheme, but after a few seconds she realizes that Trini isn’t in fact trying to tackle her.

She’s hugging her.

Kimberly Hart is being hugged by Trini.

Trini, by far the surliest member of the group and the most stringent with hugs, currently has her wrapped up in her arms.

The only thing Kim can do is let out a quiet and surprised, “Oh.”

“I’m doing this only because I didn’t want you to ramble yourself into a panic attack,” Trini mumbles into her neck, “Don’t go getting any ideas about this being some free license to hug.”

The mix of emotions Kim is feeling result in her letting out a watery chuckle. She finds that words are failing her at the moment, so she settles for just hugging Trini back, taking the comfort the other girl is offering.

After a few seconds, Kim steps back from the hug, refusing to let herself be mollified by the hug Trini gave her. A hug didn’t mean acceptance and forgiveness.

They speak at the same time.

“Kim.”

“Trini.”

“Ah, sorry. You go first. You just let me cry all over you, so I think you’ve earned that,” Kim replies, suddenly nervous once more.

Trini takes a deep breath before answering, “I just… you did a really, really shitty thing to Amanda. And yes, if I had met you and only knew that about you I would happily kick you into another galaxy. But, I know a lot about you Kim. I know that you’re not a bad person.”

“I-“, Kim begins to speak but then stops, overwhelmed by the maelstrom of emotions in her chest.

Trini takes a step towards her, “Sometimes good people do bad things. Just learn from it, and don’t do it again. Because if you do, your ass is next aboard the S.S. Trini’s Foot. Got it?”

Relief is not a strong enough word to describe the emotion Kim is currently feeling. Each of the Rangers has told her that she’s not a bad person for what she did, and, after hearing it for the fourth time, Kim feels like she can start to believe it.

Suddenly, she is overcome with a rush of affection for Trini.

“Hey Trini?”

“Yeah?”

“I hope you know that I’m going to hug you now.”

Trini takes a step away from her and narrows her eyes, “What did I say about hugs? That was a limited time offer.”

Kim pouts and takes a step towards Trini, keeping the distance between then constant. “What?” she asks, “You won’t even make an exception for little old me?” She continues to advance on Trini as she speaks.

“Kim,” Trini says, not breaking eye contact, “try again. You’re half a foot taller than me and we’re the same age. I’ll fight you.”

Kim stops her advance and lets out a deep sigh, “Fine, but when I wither up and die from lack of affection, I want the words ‘This was Trini’s fault’ written on my tombstone.”

Trini struggles to hold back her laughter as she speaks, “If I let you hug me again, will you stop being so aggressively dramatic?”

Kim simply nods and opens her arms.

“Fine,” Trini sighs, “but I’m not going to like this.”

“Yes you are,” Kim says softly as she pulls Trini in towards herself, “I know you’re actually a big softie beneath your beanie and bluster.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Trini mutters as she lifts her arms to wrap them around Kim’s back. “I’m doing this because I’m being extorted.”

“No,” Kim says, “You’re doing this because you’re a good friend and you’re supportive.”

“You have no proof of this,” Trini’s voice is softer now, and Kim finds that the butterflies in her stomach are working overtime.

Kim takes a second to just exist in this moment with Trini. She feels hyperaware of every inch of her body that is pressed against the other girls, and she can’t help but lean into the hug even more. Her hand twitches in its spot on Trini’s back, and she fights the urge to begin running her fingers through her hair. As loathe as she is to admit it, she needs to put a stop to this hug before she makes things awkward.

“Maybe I don’t,” Kim replies as she gently breaks the hug, “but we both know it’s true.”

Trini steps back and clears her throat, “Listen, Kim,” Trini mirrors Kim’s pose from earlier and looks at the ground, “you’re my friend. That means something.” She looks up at Kim now and smiles, “Now, let’s get out of here before you trap me in another hug.”

Before Kim can do much of anything, Trini takes off running towards the entrance of the cave, and all Kim can really do is laugh as she calls after her, “Remember, we’re meeting at my house tomorrow for the bio project! Don’t be late!”

Trini shouts back that she’ll be there and suddenly Kim is alone.

She’s alone, and for the first time in quite a while that loneliness is not accompanied by anxiety about telling the Rangers or fear of being abandoned by her friends.

She breathes deep and sinks into the feeling of surety her final confession has given her.

She has friends who know the worst of her and decided to stick around. She’s worth forgiving, and that knowledge is priceless.

Now, she just needs to figure out how to ask Trini out without completely embarrassing herself. She’s thought about it before, sure, in hazy shapes and warm colors. But she’s never actually hammered out a concrete plan.

She needed to tell Trini about Amanda first. And now that that’s over, well, Kim doesn’t have a reason not to try.

She just needs to focus on not making a fool of herself in front of Trini.

Who she sometimes can’t speak properly in front of because she’s overwhelmed by her useless bisexual feelings.

No biggie.

//

“So explain to me again why we’re in your room doing homework when we could be downstairs eating the pilaf your parents made. I can hear it calling to me,” Trini speaks from her spot on Kim’s bed.

Kim rolls her eyes as she spins around in her chair to face Trini, “It’s Wednesday, and Wednesday means that we have to turn in our lab on photosynthesis tomorrow. Once we finish that, we can go get food.”

Trini groans as she slumps over her laptop, “But it’s going to get coooold.”

“It’s in the fridge, you whiner. It was made before my parents went out, so it’s not even currently warm,” Kim flicks the cap of her pen at Trini, and smirks when it hits the top of her head and the other girl shoots up with a glare, “besides, if we go downstairs, the chances of us getting distracted by Netflix increase by 200%.”

Trini smirks and throws the cap back at Kim, “Why do you say that as if it’s a negative? I hear only good things. Food. Movies. Not doing homework. It all checks out.”

Kim catches the cap in her hand and smiles coyly, “Why Trini, are you asking me to Netflix and chill? I must say, I’m flattered.”

The instant blush that spreads across Trini’s face is ever so satisfying, and Kim can barely hold back her laughter.

“I. You.” Trini is gaping at her now, seemingly at a loss for words, and the sight makes Kim a bit giddy. It’s good to know she can have such an effect on the other girl with just a suggestion.

“Anyway,” Kim leans back in her chair, deciding to let Trini off the hook, “I was thinking we could at least get through the tables and figures before taking a break. Sound good?” She spins around in her chair before Trini can respond, and breaks out into a smile as soon as the other girl can’t see her face.

Flirting with Trini is exhilarating.

A second later, she hears the sound of the pen cap hitting the back of her chair and falling to the floor, and what sounds like a muttered, “I feel so attacked right now.”

They get in about five minutes of work before Trini speaks.

“So what is it exactly that your parents get up to every Wednesday? Do they actually go out on a literal date every week?”

Kim responds without looking up from her laptop, “Remind me again what the Calvin Cycle has to do with my parents’ love life?”

She hears a rustling noise behind her, and suddenly finds herself being spun around. Trini stands in front of her with her hands on her hips, and Kim takes a second to appreciate the sliver of skin on Trini’s stomach that is revealed to her by the action before she focuses on what Trini is saying.

“Listen, Pink, if I have to think about ATP and ADP for 10 more seconds I’m going to scream. Humor me.” Trini sits on the edge of Kim’s bed.

“There’s not much to the story, really,” Kim rolls herself a bit closer to Trini, “my parents are just grossly in love and like to go out every week to celebrate that. They take great joy in talking about how ‘It’s important to make time for the ones you love’. Entertaining enough for you?”

Trini is quiet for a second, and Kim observes the almost-wistful look that steals across her face. Trini looks down at her hands before speaking, “It sounds nice. Having something like that,” Trini looks up and sends a small smile in Kim’s direction, “Having someone like that.”

The words settle between them, and in the moment, Kim finds herself unable to respond. She’s caught up in Trini’s soft smile and the way the light in the room illuminates her eyes. She can feel a thrum in her veins, a whisper of courage sneaking up her spine.

Her contemplation is interrupted when Trini stands up and speaks once more, “At the very least, it would be nice to go on a date before I turn 40.”

“I can help with that,” Kim blurts out the words before she can stop and think about what she’s doing.

“Wait, what?” Trini is looking at her with surprise now, and Kim can hardly blame her. This wasn’t exactly one of the ways she had planned on asking Trini out.

The silence that stretches between them gives Trini the space to fill in the blanks herself, “Is this you trying to set me up on a date? Because, no offense, I don’t think I’d totally trust your judgement on that one. And besides, being a secret superhero isn’t exactly the most stable base to build a relationship on, you know?”

Trini ends her words with a laugh, but Kim is still frozen. She needs more time.

She wanted to ask Trini out at the coffee shop while they shared a donut, or maybe after training when they were laughing together at an over-the-top speech Jason gave, or even when they were downstairs and sprawled on the couch watching another episode of _One Day at a Time_. But not like this. Not unplanned and with nerves pulsing throughout her body.

Trini falters at Kim’s continued silence, “I… that is what you meant, right? I don’t know what else? Because, that, that would mean,” Trini is shaking her head at this point, “and that doesn’t make sense at all.”

That whisper of courage turns into a roar, and Kim stands, pushing her chair back and moving herself towards Trini.

In spite of the rush of adrenaline she feels, Kim keeps her voice low and steady, “It does make sense,” she stops a few inches from Trini, close enough to see surprise spread across her face, “because I meant what I said.”

“You,” Trini falters, and Kim can see her struggling to process what she’s hearing, “you’re straight.”

“Bisexual, actually. Trini, listen, I,” Kim takes a deep breath and exhales, pushing the words out in a rush, “I like you. I like you in a ‘let’s go to the café, but this time I’ll pay and we’ll call it a date’ way. Or a ‘you sometimes distract me so much that I walk into things’ way. And if you don’t feel the same way then we can totally pretend this never happened. I don’t want to mess up our friendship. That’s what’s most important to me, and-“, Kim stops abruptly when Trini holds up her hand.

She immediately freezes, suddenly afraid that she has overwhelmed Trini with her confession of feelings-turned-rant.

“You like me?” Trini asks voice tinged with disbelief, and Kim thinks she sees a smile beginning to form, “You want to take me on a date?”

Trini’s hand comes to rest on her left shoulder, thumb just barely brushing her collarbone, and Kim really hopes that she can’t feel how quickly her heart is beating.

Kim can feel giddiness beginning to slip in between the nervousness, and she fights to hold back her own smile, “I do. Though I can’t say I planned on asking you out during a study session,” she reaches up and wraps her fingers around Trini’s wrist, brushing her thumb over the other girl’s pulse point, “So, will you go out with me sometime?”

Trini moves just a bit closer, attempting to stay calm but unable to fully contain her excitement, “That depends, do I get the last piece of the donut this time?”

Kim laughs and closes her eyes, unable to believe that this is actually happening right now. When she opens her eyes again, she is momentarily taken aback by the look on Trini’s face. Her grin had settled into something softer, and it was all Kim could do to not kiss her.

“If you say yes, I promise not to fight you on that,” Kim brushes her thumb over Trini’s wrist again, “even if it’s a Boston cream.”

Trini drops her hand down, taking Kim’s with it, and tangles their fingers together, “It’s a date, then”

She tugs Kim even closer, they’re chest to chest now, and _oh_ , how had Kim not noticed before how long Trini’s eyelashes are, “My turn for a question. Can I kiss you?”

Kim freezes. Her heart, which moments ago had been beating to the rhythm of an EDM track, is now seemingly absent. Sure, she’s thought about kissing Trini, quite a lot actually, but nothing in her dreams could prepare her for it actually happening.

Then again, this isn’t the first surprising life event she’s had happen in the last few months, so she can roll with it, “Yes.”

The kiss is short, a brief press of lips, but Kim wants to stay in this moment as long as possible. She tugs on Trini’s hand and brings it to her hip as her other hand slides to the back of the other girl’s neck, “How do you feel about taking that break just a bit early?”

The proximity of their faces allows Kim to see that way Trini’s mouth drops open slightly in surprise before it morphs into a smirk, “Oh, so now we’re allowed to take breaks? What happened to finishing the tables and figures?”

Kim smiles as she brushes her nose with Trini’s, “I think I found something else I’d rather occupy my time with.”

As her and Trini’s lips meet once more, Kim decides that one bad grade is definitely worth being able to keep kissing Trini.

//

“You girls have fun! And Kim don’t forget to take care of those dishes,” Kim’s dad shouts from the other side of the door, “Trini, there’s some leftover dal in the fridge just for you, so help yourself!”

“Have I mentioned that your parents are kind of the coolest people ever,” Trini asks as she spins herself around in Kim’s chair.

Kim reaches out a foot from where she’s sitting on the edge of her bed and stops her girlfriend’s spinning once she’s facing her, “Oh I don’t know, maybe just every time you come over and they make you food. Sometimes I think that’s the only reason you come over.”

“Aw, babe,” Trini stands and makes her way in front of Kim, smirk clearly on display, “you know I also come over for the homework help.”

“You jerk,” Kim laughs as she stands and pulls Trini in towards her, “you don’t need anyone’s help with homework, but you do need to get started on that English paper,” Trini pulls a face at this, “It’s due tomorrow and you have, what, only one page?”

“Ugh,” Trini bumps her forehead against Kim’s collarbone, “I don’t know why you have to keep bullying me about this. You’re my girlfriend. Shouldn’t you be nice to me?”

Kim presses a kiss to the crown of Trini’s head as she moves her fingers through the ends of her hair, “I _am_ nice to you. In fact, I got you flowers yesterday for our one month.”

The only reply Kim gets is a grumble into her shoulder.

“I can hear you blushing, Trin.”

Trini steps back and pouts, meeting Kim’s eyes with her own, “I wish I had never shared my water with you.”

Smirking, Kim steps forward and gently shoves at Trini’s shoulders, pushing her down into the chair, “We both know you don’t mean that,” Trini eyes Kim warily as she leans down to bring herself to Trini's eye level, “How about this? You get in an hour of solid work on your paper while I do my calc, and then after, I’ll kiss you until you can’t remember what the word syntax means.”

“Fine,” Trini presses a lingering kiss to Kim’s lips, just long enough to hint at the promise of something more, “but I’m holding you to that.”

“Please do,” Kim all but purrs into Trini’s mouth, relishing in the look of desire that appears on her girlfriend’s face. She doesn’t think she’ll ever get tired of having that effect on the other girl. There’s something so satisfying about the push-and-pull game they play, even more so now that they’re dating.

“But first: homework,” Kim pulls back and smiles innocently at Trini before spinning her chair back around to face the desk.

She hears Trini scoff before she responds, “We’re teenagers. Shouldn’t we be too overcome with our raging hormones to do anything other than make out all the time?”

“Sure,” Kim replies as she settles back onto her bed, “but we’re also students who are too overcome with anxiety about our futures to let ourselves get bad grades.”

“Touché.”

//

Trini leaves about two hours later, much closer to finishing her English paper than she was when she arrived and also significantly more flustered, Kim’s pink scarf wrapped around her neck in an attempt to hide the evidence of their less academic activities from Trini’s parents.

They’ve been pretty okay so far with the ‘our daughter is gay and dating the ex-head cheerleader’ thing, but neither of the girls want to test their limits. And seeing your daughter’s neck covered in hickeys is enough to test the resolve of most parents.

Heading upstairs to her room after she finishes the dishes, Kim smiles as she runs her finger over a mark on her collarbone that is already purpling. Kissing Trini is delightful. The feel of the other girl’s body and lips on hers is something she will never get tired of.

She doesn’t think she’ll ever get tired of just being around her girlfriend, either. They’ve only being going out for a month, but Kim knows they’re beyond compatible. Being with Trini just feels _right_ in a way that so few things do. Like settling into blankets after coming in from the cold.

As she sits on her bed and goes to reach for the book she’s currently reading, ( _Santa Olivia,_ a book Trini recommended to her as “a non-white, queer, _Rocky-_ esque, dystopian masterpiece that kind of also has werewolves in it”), her phone vibrates with a series of texts.

**Smol n’ fighty:**

I’m home.

My mom caught me going up the steps and asked me where the scarf was from.

I told her it was yours.

She said, and I quote

I’m glad that girlfriend of yours is doing what she can to improve your fashion sense.

This scarf doesn’t even match my damn outfit. I’m wearing YELLOW!!!!! She’s just excited to see me wearing pink.

My mom:  (◠‿◠✿)/ ~Gender Norms~

Me: ಠ_ಠ  (ง'̀-'́)ง 

**tol n’ mighty:**

ahahahaha amazing

at least she didnt try and take the scarf off of you

that would have been a Bad Time

also, what have I told you about texting like an 80 yr old

**Smol n’ fighty:**

Ay dios mío

That would’ve been rough

Well, apparently it makes me a “nerd”, but as someone who actually has suffered through watching her grandparents text, I can tell you that their style would be much more like yours. Finding an exclamation point is a lot of effort, Kimber.

**tol n’ mighty:**

call me Kimber one more time

**Smol n’ fighty:**

Kim

Ber

**tol n’ mighty:**

(◡‿◡✿) (ʘ‿ʘ✿) (ʘ‿ʘ)ノ✿ ”Hold my flower” 

**Smol n’ fighty:**

I regret ever showing you the power of emoticons.

Also, I gtg. My mother wants to have a ‘family meeting to discuss some issues we’ve had recently’.

I think this is because Alberto was caught putting flour in Tobi’s juice yesterday.

**tol n’ mighty:**

~~oooo juicy drama~~

have fun!! <3

Kim sets her phone down, sure that she won’t be getting a text from her girlfriend for at least an hour.In the meantime, she has a book to get back to.

//

Holding the book in her right hand, Kim takes to fiddling with her phone in her left. She’s paying attention to what she’s reading, it’s just that she usually finds herself antsy after spending an evening with Trini. As if there’s some extra energy she can’t quite get rid of.

It’s for this reason that about forty minutes later, she finds herself accidentally throwing her phone across the room at a particularly good plot twist, and she winces when she hears the thud of her phone on her floor. As she stands to go get it, Kim really hopes this one isn’t broken.

Bending down to scoop up her phone – not broken, thank god – she’s hit with a sense of déjà vu. She half expects to unlock her screen to see a photo from Amanda, but all she sees is a picture of her and the rest of the Rangers in front of the new Krispy Kreme sign.

It’s a stark contrast to her old phone backgrounds. Before this, before she betrayed her friend or became a superhero, her phone background was a picture of her and Amanda together after they had just won a big game. Their faces were flush with glee, arms thrown around each other and looking to the world like the best friends they were.

After Kim sent Ty that photo, she set her background to one of the generic ones that came with her phone.

It wasn’t until a week or so ago, when Zack caught a glance of her generic background and called her out on it, that they had gathered together and taken a group selfie that Kim has come to treasure.

She looks happy in it, sandwiched between Jason and Billy, happy to have friends she can count on and content in her own skin.

Kim feels like a drama queen just remembering it, but she knows that a few months ago she wasn’t sure if she’d ever feel at home again in Angel Grove.

What she did to Amanda still haunts her, and there are days where Kim will be hit with guilt, set off by a news report about the rise in sexting among teens or a class discussion about Iago from _Othello_.

But there are also days where Kim can acknowledge what she did and swallow down any self-loathing threatening to rise up. She knows she’s doing what she can to make amends, and she has to let that be good enough.

Two weeks ago, Kim ran into Amanda in the girl’s bathroom, the same one where she cut her hair off. Her initial instinct was to flee, and the look on Amanda’s face was certainly encouraging that course of action, but then Kim remembered that she was trying to move forward and act like the person she wanted to be.

Kim can’t say her apology fixed everything. It certainly wasn’t the most eloquent apology she’s ever given, and Amanda just scoffed at her and walked out of the bathroom. But she tried. And she’ll keep trying.

Kim realizes that Amanda may never forgive her, but that doesn’t mean she’s not going to keep becoming a better person.

It certainly helps to have the rest of the Rangers on her side. They each settle and ground her in their own way, and she wouldn’t trade that for the world. Even if it does mean having to fight giant monsters sometimes.

The buzz of her phone jolts her out of her thoughts, and she looks down to see a message from Jason to their group chat asking if people want to hang out around the fire tonight. Affirmative replies from Zack and Billy quickly arrive, and Kim knows that Trini will be on board as soon as she can free herself.

Kim sends her excited agreement and grabs her jacket. She’s pretty sure that by the time she makes it to Trini’s house, the other girl will be available. If not, well, it won’t be the first time Trini’s made up an excuse and snuck out of the house.

//

An hour later, Kim finds herself sitting next to a fire, surrounded by her friends as they laugh at a story Zack is telling them. Partway through the story, Kim reaches over and tangles her fingers with Trini’s, shooting the other girl a smile, which is easily returned, before she focuses back on Zack.

It’s a Wednesday, and Kimberly Hart doesn’t need to find herself, she’s exactly where she should be.

 


End file.
